Molecular characterization of Cyclophilin B genes and promoter sequences in wheat and rice

- Poor adherence to medication is one of the most important determinants in the treatment of patients with chronic disorders.- e-Health-based interventions may be able to improve treatment adherence.- This article gives an overview of the available e-Health interventions and the extent to which they can improve adherence.- We searched in the PubMed, Cinahl, PsycInfo, and Embase databases for e-Health interventions that aimed at improving adherence to treatment.- Of the 16 included studies, 15 used a website and one used an app.- Ten studies showed a significant improvement in treatment adherence by using the intervention.- e-Health interventions were generally complex.- Simple interventions were the most successful in improving treatment adherence

Melting of 2D liquid crystal colloidal structure

Using video microscopy, we investigated melting of a two-dimensional colloidal system, formed by glycerol droplets at the free surface of a nematic liquid crystalline layer. Analyzing different structure correlation functions, we conclude that melting occurs through an intermediate hexatic phase, as predicted by the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young(KTHNY) theory. However, the temperature range of the intermediate phase is rather narrow, <1°C, and the characteristic critical power law decays of the correlation functions are not fully developed. We conclude that the melting of our 2D systems qualitatively occurs according to KTHNY, although quantitative details of the transition scenario may partly depend on the details of interparticle interaction

Duration of clopidogrel therapy with drug-eluting stents.

Contains fulltext : 88811.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

A Multifaceted Nurse- and Web-Based Intervention for Improving Adherence to Treatment in Patients With Cardiovascular Disease: Rationale and Design of the MIRROR Trial

Contains fulltext : 172000.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Poor adherence to medication is one of the limitations in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, thereby increasing the risk of premature death, hospital admissions, and related costs. There is a need for simple and easy-to-implement interventions that are based on patients' perspectives, beliefs, and perceptions of their illness and medication. OBJECTIVE: The objective is to test the effectivity of this intervention to improve medication adherence in patients with established cardiovascular disease, that is, in secondary prevention. METHODS: In this study the effect of a personalized visualization of cardiovascular risk levels through a website aiming at supporting self management in combination with a group consultation and communication intervention by a nurse on adherence to treatment in 600 patients with manifest cardiovascular diseases will be assessed. The health belief model was chosen as main theoretical model for the intervention. RESULTS: Primary outcome is adherence to treatment calculated by refill data. Secondary outcomes include the Beliefs about Medication Questionnaire and the Modified Morisky Scale. Patients are followed for one year. Results are expected by 2015. CONCLUSIONS: This study assesses adherence to treatment in a high-risk cardiovascular population by applying an intervention that addresses patients' capacity and practical barriers as well as patients' beliefs and perceptions of their illness and medication. CLINICALTRIAL: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01449695; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01449695 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6kCzkIKH3)

Identification of cardiovascular patient groups at risk for poor medication adherence: a cluster analysis

Background Poor medication adherence limits the secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and leads to increased morbidity, mortality, and costs. Identifying groups of patients at risk of poor adherence behavior could enable an intervention to be developed and target patients appropriately. Objective The first aim of this study was to identify homogeneous subgroups of cardiovascular outpatients based on their cardiovascular risk factors. Subsequently, differences in medication adherence between these groups were examined. Methods In this retrospective, observational study, patients with an established CVD were included. Well-known cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking, diet, exercise, blood lipid levels, blood pressure, and body mass index were collected. To identify patient subgroups, a 2-step cluster analytic procedure was performed. Differences between the groups on medication adherence were determined on the outcome of the Modified Morisky Scale. Data collection took place between October 2011 and January 2013. Results Cardiovascular risk factors of 530 patients were included in the cluster analysis. Three groups were identified. Compared with other clusters (clusters 1 and 2), cluster 3 contained significantly fewer patients who could be classified as highly adherent and more patients classified as medium adherent (23% and 57%, respectively; P = .024). This group was characterized by a younger age (53% were <55 years old) and using a relatively low number of different medications (41% used <4 different medications). Besides, in this subgroup the most smokers (37%), unhealthy alcohol users (27%), and patients with unhealthy eating habits (14%) were present. Conclusion This study showed that cardiovascular patients who are relatively young and have an unhealthy lifestyle are at risk for nonadherent behavior

A Comparative Study of Automated Test Explorers

With modern computer systems becoming more and more complicated, theimportance of rigorous testing to ensure the quality of the product increases.This, however, means that the cost to perform tests also increases. In orderto address this problem, a lot of research has been conducted during thelast years to find a more automated way of testing software systems. Inthis thesis, different algorithms to automatically explore and test a systemhave been implemented and evaluated. In addition to this, a second setof algorithms have been implemented with the objective to isolate whichinteractions with the system were responsible for a failure. These algorithmswere also evaluated and compared against each other. In the first evaluationtwo explorers, which I called DeBruijn and LStarExplorer, were consideredsuperior to the other. The first used a DeBruijn sequence to brute forcea solution while the second used the L*-algorithm to build an FSM overthe system under test. This FSM could then be used to provide a moreaccurate description for when the failure occurred. The result from thesecond evaluation were two reducers which both tried to recreate a failureby first applying interactions performed just before the failure occurred. Ifthis was not successful, they tried interactions further and further away, untilthe failure was triggered. In addition to this, the thesis contains descriptionsabout the framework used to run the different strategies.D ̊a v ̊ara moderna datasystem blir allt mer komplicerade,  ̈okar detta st ̈andigtbehovet av rigor ̈osa tester f ̈or att s ̈akerst ̈alla kvaliteten p ̊a den slutgiltiga pro-dukten. Det h ̈ar inneb ̈ar dock att kostnaden f ̈or att utf ̈ora testerna ocks ̊ao  ̈ kar. F ̈or att f ̈ors ̈oka hitta en l ̈osning p ̊a det h ̈ar problemet har forsknin-gen under senare tid arbetat med att ta fram automatiserade metoder atttesta mjukvarusystem. I den h ̈ar uppsatsen har olika algoritmer, f ̈or attutforska och testa ett system, implementerats och utv ̈arderats. D ̈arut ̈overhar ocks ̊a en grupp algoritmer implementerats som ska kunna isolera vilkainteraktioner med ett system som f ̊ar det att fallera.  ̈aven dessa algoritmerhar utv ̈arderats och testats mot varandra. Resultatet fr ̊an det f ̈orsta ex-perimentet var tv ̊a explorers, h ̈ar kallade DeBruijn och LStarExplorer, somvisade sig vara b ̈attre  ̈an de andra. Den f ̈orsta av dessa anv ̈ande en DeBruijn-sekvens f ̈or att hitta felen, medan den andra anv ̈ande en L*-algoritm f ̈or attbygga upp en FSM  ̈over systemet. Den h ̈ar FSM:en kunde sedan anv ̈andasf ̈or att mer precist beskriva n ̈ar felet uppstod. Resultatet fr ̊an det andraexperimentet var tv ̊a reducers, vilka b ̊ada f ̈ors ̈okte  ̊aterskapa fel genom attf ̈orst applicera interaktioner som ursprungligen utf ̈ordes percis innan feletuppstod. Om felet inte kunde  ̊aterskapas p ̊a detta s ̈att, fortsatte de medatt applicera interaktioner l ̈angre bort tills felet kunde  ̊aterskapas. Ut ̈overdetta inneh ̊aller uppsatsen ocks ̊a beskrivningar av ramverken som anv ̈andsf ̈or att k ̈ora de olika strategierna

Participation in a clinical trial enhances adherence and persistence to treatment: a retrospective cohort study.

Contains fulltext : 97202.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Poor adherence to treatment is one of the major determinants of an uncontrolled blood pressure. Participation in a clinical trial may increase patient's adherence to treatment. This prompted us to investigate adherence and persistence profiles in patients with hypertension who had participated in a clinical trial, by collecting pharmacy refill data before, during, and after participation in the trial. Pharmacy refill data of 182 patients with hypertension who participated in the Home Versus Office Blood Pressure Measurements: Reduction of Unnecessary Treatment Study between 2001 and 2005 were obtained from 1999 until 2010. Refill adherence to treatment was compared for the periods before, during, and after this trial. Persistence to medication was investigated for the period after termination of the trial. Refill data were available for 22 600 prescriptions. Participation into the trial significantly increased refill adherence, from 90.6% to 95.6% (P90%) were less likely to discontinue treatment compared with nonadherent participants (odds ratio: 0.66 [95% CI: 0.45 to 0.98]). Participation in a clinical trial significantly increases adherence to both trial-related and nontrial-related treatment, suggesting that participants in a trial are more involved with their conditions and treatments.1 oktober 201

A nurse-based intervention for improving medication adherence in cardiovascular patients: an evaluation of a randomized controlled trial

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A nurse-based intervention for improving medication adherence in cardiovascular patients: an evaluation of a randomized controlled trial.

Background Poor medication adherence is a limitation in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and leads to increased morbidity, mortality, and costs. Purpose To examine the process and effect of a nurse-led, web-based intervention based on behavioral change strategies to improve medication adherence in patients with CVD. Patients and methods In this single-center, prospective, controlled clinical trial, cardiovascular patients were assigned to usual care, usual care plus a personalized website, or usual care plus a personalized website and personal consultations. Primary outcome was the level of adherence to cardiovascular medication. Data collection occurred between October 2011 and January 2015. Results In total, 419 patients were randomized. Just 77 patients logged on the website and half of the invited patients attended the group consultation. Due to the limited use of the website, we combined the results of usual care and the usual care plus website group in one group (usual care) and compared these with the results of the group which received the nurse intervention (intervention group). No significant difference in adherence between the usual care group and the intervention group was observed. The adherence level in the usual care group was 93%, compared to 89% in the intervention group (p=0.08). 29% (usual care) and 31% (intervention group) of the patients showed a low adherence according to the Modified Morisky Scale® (p-value=0.94). The mean necessity concern differential was 3.8 with no differences between the two studied groups (mean 3.8 vs mean 3.9, p-value =0.86). Conclusion Our intervention program did not show an effect. This could indicate that structured usual care provided to all cardiovascular patients already results in high medication adherence or that shortly after a cardiovascular event adherence is high. It could also indicate that the program did not have enough impact because there was not enough compliance with the intervention protocol